Who Let Him Cultivate?!

If anyone happened to venture here, they would be scared off by the sight of the corpses scattered across the field, suspecting something strange and turning to run away.

A grey figure descended lightly, picking up the useless roots of the Herbal Celestial Grass; their brows furrowed at the disorderly scene.

“Who’s responsible for this!”

Fury surged in his heart as his years of preparation were destroyed in an instant. He needed to find an explanation for this.

He was distant in the Demon Territory, but the moment he lost sensations of the Herbal Celestial Grass, he rushed over instantly.

It was a pity that it was already too late. The Herbal Celestial Grass had been plucked away by someone else.

“Rewind!”

He formed complex, ancient seals with both his hands, moving so fast that they produced ghostly afterimages.

This was a Great Divine Skill he mastered, capable of rewinding time and viewing past events.

A light curtain appeared before him, in it, a Golden Core cultivator pulling out the Herbal Celestial Grass by its roots. This was the limit of his retrospection.

“The audacity! An insignificant Golden Core youngster dares to ruin my plans!”

“I’ll remember your face!”

His grey shadow grit his teeth in anger, glaring fiercely at Lu Yang, vowing to find Lu Yang wherever he might be, retrieve the Herbal Celestial Grass, and tear Lu Yang into pieces!

“Why remember me? I’m just a small fry,” a voice lazily sounded from the side.

“Who’s that!” The grey shadow was startled. He was so anxious that he didn’t notice another person’s presence when the Herbal Celestial Grass disappeared.

“It’s you, you even dare to show your face!” The grey shadow’s eyes hardened upon seeing Lu Yang. He ruined his plan, plucked the Herbal Celestial Grass, and even dared to show his face. Did he think he was made of clay and wouldn’t get angry?

No, wait. He’s just a Golden Core cultivator, no matter how anxious he was, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed a Golden Core hiding nearby.

It’s a trap!

He abruptly shot into the sky, attempting to escape, only to be covered by a massive net descending from the heavens.

“You who secretly cultivated the Herbal Celestial Grass and harmed living beings, either accept local execution or obediently follow me back for trial!” Governor Zeng slowly appeared from another space, standing next to Lu Yang, his pupils filled with rage.

Ten Refining the Void cultivators controlled the Sky Net, the grey shadow could not escape despite his efforts.

Governor Zeng squinted his eyes slightly. The techniques used by the grey figure were very antiquated, not something of this era’s Unification stage cultivators would use.

“It seems we’ve caught an ancient Unification stage cultivator who’s been secretly cultivating the Herbal Celestial Grass to refine pills and elevate his realm.”

While the cultivation level of Refining the Void cultivators changes drastically, it doesn’t mean they can’t take action.

The cultivation levels of these ten Refining the Void cultivators were also changing, but they could ensure that at least two of them remained at the Unification stage.

With Governor Zeng who stayed on the ground added to the mix, they made up three Unification stage cultivators, enough to activate the Sky Net.

The Sky Net was a secret treasure of the Great Xia dynasty’s treasury, used as a trump card stationed at the Demon Suppressing Pass to guard against invasion by the Demon Race.

As long as it wasn’t an Unification stage elder of the Seek Dao Sect, the Sky Net could suppress anyone.

Obviously, the grey figure was not at the level of the Seek Dao Sect elders, otherwise, he wouldn’t need to cultivate the Herbal Celestial Grass.

“Take him away!” Following Governor Zeng’s order, ten Refining the Void cultivators dragged the grey figure back to the Demon Suppressing Pass.

“How did you know there’s someone behind the Herbal Celestial Grass?” On their way back, Governor Zeng asked curiously.

“Even the Herbal Celestial Grass itself doesn’t know it’s being cultivated.” This was the result Governor Zeng obtained after interrogating the Herbal Celestial Grass.

“It’s possible that the person behind it modified its memory.”

“There were two reasons for my guess that there’s someone behind the Herbal Celestial Grass.”

“First, the location of the Herbal Celestial Grass was too perfect. It has the ability to control Golden Core cultivators and happens to be in a dense forest where the most Golden Core Demon Beasts and Golden Core cultivators can be found. It seemed like someone deliberately planted it there to make it easier for it to find food.”

“I’ve considered that, but couldn’t it just be a coincidence?”

“That’s where the second point comes in. Governor Zeng probably doesn’t know this, but in the process of my fight with the Herbal Celestial Grass, it used an Array Method to disrupt my Directional Teleportation Talisman. Directional Teleportation Talisman is made by Nascent Soul Cultivators, and the Herbal Celestial Grass controls Golden Core cultivators. They wouldn’t possibly have learnt the method of disrupting a Directional Teleportation Talisman from Golden Core cultivators.”

“Moreover, it used the Mountain Moving Array to shift the location of the swamp. This also isn’t an Array Method that Herbal Celestial Grass should be capable of.”

“There must be someone who taught Herbal Celestial Grass these skills for self-preservation. That person would also worry about the Herbal Celestial Grass exposing him, so they modified Herbal Celestial Grass’s memory.”

“Considering the Herbal Celestial Grass can improve a Unification cultivator’s realm by an entire level, it confirms that the person behind it is definitely a Unification cultivator.”

“That person certainly left a mark on such an important thing as the Herbal Celestial Grass. The moment the mark disappeared, they would inevitably come over. That’s why I asked Governor Zeng to ambush them.”

Governor Zeng waved it off: “It’s not like you asked me to make a move. It’s my duty as the governor. I should be the one thanking you. Without you exposing the Herbal Celestial Grass and the person behind it, who knows how long they could remain hidden and how many more people they could harm.”

The two conversed and arrived back at the Demon Suppressing Pass.

Governor Zeng decided to interrogate the grey figure overnight and parted ways with Lu Yang.

Lu Yang returned to the inn only to find that Meng Jingzhou and the others had already prepared a feast to celebrate his advancement to the Golden Core Stage.

“Come, come. Let’s toast to Lu Yang’s promotion to the Golden Core Stage!” The four held up their drinks and downed a full glass together.

“Now that Lu has advanced to the Golden Core Stage, we three must pick up our pace. I have some clue. What about you two?” Meng Jingzhou asked.

“I’m considering forming a Golden Core related to illusions, but I need to do more research on how to execute it.” Tao Yaoye said.

“I haven’t figured out what kind of Golden Core I want to form yet.” Man Gu scratched his head, laughing embarrassingly.

“Don’t rush. We have time. At our age, apart from Lu Yang, our cultivation speed is the fastest. There’s no need to hurry.” Meng Jingzhou advised Man Gu not to be hasty. Man Gu nodded to show that he understood.

“I need to return to the Sect to consolidate my realm. Tomorrow, there will be a flying boat arriving. I won’t be joining you in the forest then.”

The others understood. Lu Yang was already at the Golden Core Stage. If they continued to hunt the Demon Beasts in the forest with him, they wouldn’t feel any sense of danger. The effectiveness of their trials would be greatly reduced.

The next morning, Lu Yang bought some local specialties from the Demon Suppressing Pass, brought along the Herbal Celestial Grass, and bid farewell to Meng Jingzhou and the rest before boarding the flying boat.

Lu Yang didn’t choose to fly back to the Seek Dao Sect due to two reasons. Firstly, the distance between the Demon Suppressing Pass and the Seek Dao Sect was too far. His Golden Core spiritual essence storage wouldn’t last, and he would need to stop and rest for quite some time, which wasn’t worth it.

The second reason was that Lu Yang was afraid of heights.

Of course, the main reason was the first one.

Inside the flying boat’s cabin, Lu Yang prepared to study the twinkling Invincible Elixir when he entered his Spiritual Space, and found Fairy Eternity sleeping.

She’s developed a nocturnal habit.

“Mm, Lu Yang, did you just arrive?” Sleepily rubbing her eyes, Fairy Eternity greeted Lu Yang drowsily.

Lu Yang originally wanted to ask Fairy Eternity if the Invincible Elixir has any uses, but he stopped himself and changed the topic, “Fairy, do you want to sleep some more?”

“That works.” Without even thinking, Fairy Eternity fell back to sleep.

Lu Yang: “…”

I was just being polite.